Photo Friday - Week 24

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to be photographing the Essex Wildlife Trust AGM, something I've done for the last 3 years now.  In 2010 Chris Packham gave the keynote speech, last year Nicholas Crane was the guest speaker, and he opened the Crag Walk at Walton-on-the-Naze too.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/4.5, 1/350s, +0.5EV, ISO800, handheld.

This year saw Michaela Strachan taking to the lectern, and very good she was too, giving an entertaining speech which included a sing-a-long (What A Wonderful World), opening the new visitor centre at Abberton Reservoir, and generally being very smiley and photogenic.  People aren't my usual subjects, but Michaela was a pleasure to photograph, very enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy the day.


Pentax K-5, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens @ f/4.5, 1/250s, +0.5EV, ISO800, handheld.

Someone else who always gives inspiring and interesting speeches is Professor Chris Baines, president of Essex Wildlife Trust, and champion of urban wildlife.  Here's a pic of him listening to Michalea's speech...


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/5.6, 1/250s, +0.5EV, ISO800, handheld.

It was a great day, and resulted in me sending 150 photos through to EWT, so hopefully they'll be of use in their publications over the coming year.  I wonder who'll be the speaker in 2013...?

Photo Friday - Week 23

A Damselfly (Common Blue?) taken at Hanningfield on Tuesday during some 1-2-1 tuition, unusually for this sort of shot (for me anyway) I used a tripod, allowing a longer shutter speed to balance the flash-lit foreground with the darker background.  Several attempts were made before the subject was still enough not to blur at all.


Pentax K-5, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro lens @ f/9.5, 1/45s, ISO200, tripod, flash.

Photo Friday - Week 22

Another trip up to Colchester Zoo today (we've got Gold Cards, well recommended if it's your sort of thing), so here are three hastily processed shots for this Photo Friday.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/4.5, 1/1000s, ISO200, handheld.

These Rhinos were having a bit of a stand-off with another one, and happened to line up quite nicely.  Converting to a sepia effect helped reduce a slightly distracting background, although that back one does look like it's smoking a massive cigar.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/4, 1/500s, ISO200, handheld.

For once, a tiger was out in the open and happy to be photographed, here shot through a chain link fence, but the wide aperture has thrown this well out of focus.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/4.5, 1/350s, -0.5EV, ISO3200, handheld.

One of a large group of fishes in the 'Wilds of Asia' room, shot at high ISO in order to freeze the movement in the low light.

Wide Panoramic

I'm currently assembling the panoramic I took down at Thurrock Thameside Nature Park a couple of weeks ago, and for some reason when I posted the dimensions of it when I posted the rough version as my Photo Friday I underestimated by quite an amount.



It's actually going to be nearer 28,000 x 4,600, which would print up to 2.3 metres at 300ppi.

Abberton Reservoir Opening

A week on Saturday will see me at Essex Wildlife Trust's Abberton Reservoir for their AGM and official opening of the new visitor centre by Springwatch's Michaela Strachan - I'll be taking photos for the Trust, and also having a great day out, by the look of it.

Why not come too?

Photo Friday - Week 21

I've carried out several private tuition sessions this past week, at both Hylands Park in Chelmsford and Hanningfield Reservoir near Billericay, and here are three shots from them.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/9.5, 1/90s, ISO400, tripod.

I love these Allium flowers (at Hylands), and the long lens allows me to pick a smooth green background as a vivid contrast.  Getting the composition sorted on the tripod meant I could wait for the breeze to drop before I took the shot.


Pentax K-5, Pentax FA 50mm f/1.4 lens @ f/8, 1/125s, +0.5EV, ISO800, handheld.

At Hanningfield today, we had to deal with the high winds, which meant that many 'usual' subjects like flowers were moving far to much for standard photos, but whilst looking for alternatives I got a bit fixated with the ripples on the pond near Rawl Hide.  This example has been converted to black and white, with the contrast boosted to produce this abstract.


Pentax K-5, Pentax DA*300mm f/4 lens @ f/16, 6s, ISO80, polariser, tripod.

This willow tree was in the water at the edge of the reservoir at Hanningfield, and Jim, my client today, noticed it from one of the hides.  I used a polariser to extend the exposure and help smooth out the moving water.

Photo Friday - Week 20

A bit of an odd one this week, but this panoramic of Mucking Creek and the new DP World container port currently in construction on the River Thames will probably be used for some interpretation at Essex Wildlife Trust's Thurrock Thameside Nature Park at Mucking.

This is just a roughly pieced-together version, and it was taken on Wednesday afternoon, consisting of 12 exposures (I think), and it will be seemlessly stitched together to create an image approximately 16800 x 2800 pixels.


Pentax K-5, Pentax FA 50mm f/4 lens @ f/9.5, 1/90s, +0.5EV, ISO100, tripod, 12 photos (I think) stitched (very roughly).